A few Lr versions ago I started noticing that when a photo would load Lr would make an adjustment to my photos. Mainly, it seems to be adding a lot of contrast. I've just been pulling down the contrast slider when I started to actually edit the photos but I'm tired of doing that.

I like my photos coming into Lr to be fairly flat so I can add what I want.

I believe my import settings in Lr are not set to make any changes. Here's a screen shot: If I'm wrong or need to look elsewhere. Please let me know.

Finally, here's a video of what I'm seeing. First, you'll see the photo that looks like the settings from the camera (low contrast and saturation). Then, once the photo is done "loading", the photo will change to have have much more contrast and saturation than I think it should.

Lightroom will apply the standard default settings to CR2 files unless you use your own import preset. The camera settings will only be read by Canon DPP and not LR or other software. Of course if you shoot CR2 + Jpg the settings and picture style will get baked into the jpeg file and will display in LR on import.

Create a develop preset that adjusts the contrast to your taste, then apply that preset during the import. Here's a screen grab of my import. The import preset I created adds a lens correction, a little sharpening and a little clarity, because I was doing this to every image anyway. With the import preset they get these edits when imported.

99jon - So, are you saying that LR applies a change to my photos every time it imports...and it get's that change from the "default" preset settings? If so, is there a way to not make any changes on import or do I need to create my own preset and set that to apply during import like Theresa J said?

Lightroom must render the RAW photo on import, and most likely the photo will appear different than the in-camera JPG. Different software will have different defaults for rendering this photo, Lightroom has its own defaults, and you can modify the defaults to your liking by applying a preset at import. Even if you have the built-in Lightroom defaults, it can look like it is applying a "change".

The best approach, which should save you time getting to the final desired edits, is to create a set of edits that are to be applied at import to every photo (this is called a preset in Lightroom), and then actually apply that preset on future imports.

Think of the defaults as a starting point for further tweaks in Develop.

But once you get your own "look" simply click on the plus icon on the left-hand Presets tab and put a check mark against all the applicable settings. Then save as "My Standard Import" or whatever you prefer. You can then select that in the import dialog and will probably have less individual editing to do.

99jon - So, are you saying that LR applies a change to my photos every time it imports...and it get's that change from the "default" preset settings? If so, is there a way to not make any changes on import or do I need to create my own preset and set that to apply during import like Theresa J said?

Thanks again.

Every camera has a set of default settings. Those default settings are applied to raw images whenever they are imported into Lightroom. You can create presets to counteract those default settings. Or, my preference is to make adjustments to a newly imported image so that it has the settings that I prefer. Then I save new default settings. From that point onward my preferred default settings are the ones that are applied to newly imported images. And I can change other images that have already been imported by clicking on the reset button.

You might want to try the Camera Calibration settings. By default LR applies the "Adobe Standard" calibration. You might find that one of the other Camera Calibrations gives you a more desired starting point. You could then use it with your import develop preset.